Tag Archives: fake sports cards

September 13, 2012, was what seems like a long time ago now. I was on the plane back from Hawaii. Most people were still buzzing about what they saw at the National a month before. The best part of the baseball season was underway. “JerseyGate” was brought up, and forgotten by most collectors.

3 months later, we still don’t have any answers.

The New York Daily News posted a story back in September giving the details on how a fraudster sold fake game used jerseys to companies in order for them to make trading cards. The fraudster says he knew they were fake, the companies knew they were fake, but they purchased them anyway. He names all of the biggest manufacturers in Upper Deck, Topps, and Panini America.

The story also mentions in an interview with the suspect a certain incident he had with Upper Deck where he was selling them fake game used Derek Jeter jerseys and how they were “inviting fraud” because they were “unwilling to pay market price.”

Many collectors originally made a stink about the whole issue, but the card companies just wiped everything under the rug as if nothing happened at all. Consumers were never given a statement by any of these companies, so the question still lies…where are these fraudulent jerseys now? What steps have they taken to ensure this doesn’t continue? We’ve heard nothing.

I, for one, no longer personally collect game used jersey cards. After reading about the rampant corruption and fraud within the memorabilia industry I just stick with autographs, and even those have their own issues as well. At this point, what part of the industry isn’t a sham?